Author(s)

Janeth Mjema^1*, Yaw A. Twumasi¹, Zhu H. Ning¹, John Bosco Namwamba¹, Ronald Okwemba¹, Kelvin Kiwale², Lucinda Kangwana¹, Priscilla M. Loh¹

¹Department of Urban Forestry and Natural Resources, Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, USA.
²Department of Public Policy, Nelson Mandela College of Government and Social Sciences, Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, USA.

The homeless experience food insecurity since most of them cannot be employed. Lack of employment makes it difficult for most homeless people to get proper clothing and a place to call home. Some homeless people are not even admissible in some shelters because of their histories. Food costs money and the lack of it has led to large numbers of homeless people eating irregularly whenever they come across it. Lack of food has led some of them to commit a petit crime to get food and something to eat. Baton Rouge has a good number of homeless people. It is unfortunate that most people do not respect homeless people and view them as being useless and not worthy of being in society. Anybody can become homeless depending on circumstances. The objectives of the study were to model the homeless population in Louisiana versus and years, and to assess the potential impacts of urban forest food gardens on the health of the homeless people in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The benefits of food forests were categorized based on health, financial earnings, and mental health, among others. Google scholar search engine was used to access Louisiana’s historical homeless population data. The data was modeled with respect to years using Microsoft Excel statistical tool kit. Future homeless populations with respect to the time this work was completed were predicted using extrapolation. There was a sharp increase in Louisiana’s homeless population in the years 2004 to 2006, and 2008 to 2009, respectively. A model developed in this study predicts the homeless population in Louisiana to rise to approximately 11 thousand by 2030. This study proposed the introduction of food forest projects to rehabilitate the homeless population of Baton Rouge through learning agricultural and forestry skills, entrepreneurial skills, and employment. The framework of improving the lives of the homeless Baton Rouge community can be applied to other cities with residents experiencing homelessness.

Homelessness, Urban Forestry, Food Forest, Fruit, Vegetable

Mjema, J. , Twumasi, Y. , Ning, Z. , Namwamba, J. , Okwemba, R. , Kiwale, K. , Kangwana, L. and Loh, P. (2023) Modeling of the Homeless Population in Louisiana and Introduction of Food Forests in Baton Rouge as a Means of Mitigating Homelessness. Current Urban Studies, 11, 474-496. doi: 10.4236/cus.2023.113025.